Teaching teachers to expand the reach of CS education

“Keep your code DRY”—this is the message that math and computer science (CS) teacher Joshua Hans writes on the board at the front of his classroom every day. He learned the programming principle, which stands for “don’t repeat yourself,” from a Technology Education and Learning Support (TEALS) Program volunteer who supported him in his first years of teaching Introduction to CS and AP CS A at Franklin D. Roosevelt High School in Brooklyn. “I never saw that in a textbook,” Joshua remembers.

“Volunteers brought real-life experience and taught us what it looks like to work for a company that does high-level work.” They also helped him gain the skills to feel confident teaching a new-to-him subject, especially the advanced concepts of an AP class. “I definitely needed support to take that risk. If things didn’t go right when I was teaching, I knew there was someone there to bail me out, to explain a solution,” he says.??

Now that he has “graduated” from the TEALS program and teaches CS on his own, Joshua mentors other CS teachers. He has partnered with TEALS to train Introduction to CS teachers during the New York City Department of Education’s CS4All summer institute, trains other AP CS A teachers, and acts as the secretary for the New York City chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association. Joshua says, “I only have the direct ability to teach 60 kids in my CS classes, but I’m actually influencing a much broader scope of kids because of my work with teachers. We collaborate and train them so they’re more successful. And when more students pursue STEM, it can open up opportunities and literally rewrite the histories of their families.”?

• Do you work at a high school? Learn how TEALS is increasing access to CS across the US by pairing volunteers from the tech industry with classroom teachers aka.ms/TeachWithTEALS
• Do you work in tech? Learn how you can volunteer with TEALS aka.ms/VolunteerWithTEALS